Radio frequency identification tags (hereinafter referred to as “RFIDs”) are well-known electronic devices which have uses in many areas. An RFID works by first recording or “burning in” identification or other data on the RFID device. Thereafter, the RFID sends the recorded identification or other information to the RFID reading device. A particular advantage of RFIDs over bar code, optical characters and magnetic storage (such as the magnetic strip on many credit cards) is that the RFID does not require physical contact, or as is the case with optical character and bar code readers, line of sight, between the tag and the reading device to be read.
RFIDs come in two varieties: active and passive. An active RFID includes a battery or other power source, and is activated by a signal from a reading device. The activated RFID then broadcasts its identification or other data, which is picked up by the reading device. An advantage of active RFID's over passive RFIDs is that the inclusion of a power source allows the active RFID to transmit to a receiver without entering into an electromagnetic field to power the tag circuit. They are also generally able to transmit over a longer distance. This has led to its use in automatic toll-paying systems, such as EZ-Pass™. An active RFID has several disadvantages compared to a passive RFID. Since it requires a battery or other power source, it is more expensive and heavier then a passive RFID. More importantly, the active RFID becomes useless when the battery or other power source is depleted.
Passive RFIDs have no power supply per se, but power is provided to the RFID circuitry by using an electromagnetic power receiver. The RFID reading device sends power to the RFID's electromagnetic power receiver, thus powering up or turning on the RFID's circuits. Next, the passive RFID broadcasts a response signal containing identification or other information, which is then read by the reading device. Since the passive RFID has no battery, it is less expensive and lighter. Passive RFIDs have been in use for some time, notably in security access cards where the user holds the card near the card reader to unlock a door, and in clothing stores as security tags attached to expensive clothing items. Until recently, this technology has been prohibitively expensive for use in food product dispensing.
Food product dispensing machines come in a numerous variety, depending upon the food product being dispensed and the preparation steps required. Food products so dispensed may be solid or liquid, and may be dispensed at room temperature, hot, cold, or any other temperature. Additional preparation steps may be involved, such as adding a diluent, mixing, whipping, heating, etc. Although the following discussion focuses on prepared beverage dispensing machines and their associated processing, as one of ordinary skill in the art of vended or machine-dispensed foods will realize, the background and invention herein described applies equally to dispensing of other food products.
Conventional beverage dispensing machines employ food material, such as powder products, concentrates or ready-to-drink products (“RTD”), which are refilled in the machine on a regular basis by a food service operator or route person. The dispensing machine may perform a number of operations to deliver a cold or warm beverage to the user. Typically, powder products or concentrates are maintained in storage areas, dosed on demand according to a desired dilution rate, mixed with a cold or hot diluent, usually water, in a mixing area and delivered in a dispensing container. RTD products may be maintained under specialized storage conditions, such as under refrigeration or other temperature control for sanitary and organoleptic reasons. These products will typically have a more limited shelf life. It is also common for the shelf life of RTD products to be altered or shortened when opened or punctured and placed into the unit for dispensing. As an example, an RTD product may have an unopened shelf life of 6 months to 1 year under proper storage conditions. However, when the product is open and placed in the dispenser the product will now have an opened shelf life which is much shorter (possibly 7–14 days), which is usually dependent from the day of opening of the package.
Beverage dispensing machines which use powder or concentrates may store these ingredients in bins which are then refilled by the food service operator, with each bin holding powder or concentrates for multiple servings of the beverage. Powder products may be stored in disposable packages such as flow wrap packs, that are used for refilling the reservoirs or hoppers of the dispensing machines. The package itself may alternatively be adapted to remain in the machine and to serve as a reservoir or bin. Alternatively, the powder or concentrate may be held in a single-serving packet, which are also refilled by the food service operator. When multiple packets are used, each packet is opened by the beverage dispensing machine at the time it is being dispensed.
There may exist a variety of instructions and variables pertaining to beverage reconstitution in the machine. For example, the machine may need to be instructed of the proper amount of a powder or concentrate to use. Other variables include the amount of diluent needed, which may depend upon which powder or concentrate is used and the nature of the beverage to be prepared, the temperature at which the beverage should be served, and the degree of whipping, if any, required to provide a foamy texture, etc.
Usually, dispensing machines are preprogrammed in the factory to receive specific types of foodstuff in order to make a limited number of specific types of beverages. When the instructions to the machine need to be modified for any reason such as because of modifications of the composition of the refill food product or because new types of food product are demanded, the dispensing machine should be reprogrammed. Reprogramming currently is accomplished by having a technically trained food service operator visit the dispensing machine on-site, or by returning the dispensing machine to the factory. On-site programming is generally preferred for reasons of cost and flexibility. This, however, requires the food service operator to be equipped with portable programming to utilize a local controller interface and to be sufficiently qualified to use the equipment. Also, the food service operator should insure that the data and instructions are correctly loaded into the dispensing machine. This, in turn, requires that the food service operator should run tests of beverage preparation at each machine that is reprogrammed. Portable equipment usually needs to be frequently updated with data, instructions, and other software specialized for the types of foodstuff with which the dispensing machine is to be filled. The number of variables used in programming should be limited and the instructions simplified to avoid incorrect operations, errors and confusion, malfunction of the machine, and consequently inconvenience to the consumer.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide instructions and variables to the machine which specifically refer to the product to be refilled while eliminating the need for an operator's manual or semi-automatic programming with portable programming equipment, or for returning the machine to the factory. It would also be desirable to provide a flexible and operational system for immediately programming a dispensing machine to accommodate each and every type of refill food product that may be dispensed, without limiting the number of variables, data, instruction schemes, code or other information used in the programming. Therefore, it would be desirable to program the dispensing machine more frequently, and without the assistance of a food service operator, or at least with minimal operator assistance. It would also be desirable to customize this more-frequent programming for each product dispensed from the machine, and remove the need for an operator to do a test run of each programmed product on every programmed dispensing machine.
Another shortcoming of current beverage dispensing systems is that it is almost impossible to control the vending of food products that the dispensing machine is not intended for. These food products may be undesirable for various reasons. For example, the food products may not meet quality and/or safety standards. For instance, the dispensing machine may accept low quality coffee, milk powder or concentrates the same way it may accept premium or top quality food products. There is also a risk of the consumer being deceived by products that may not meet the consumer's legitimate expectation, especially when the machines are branded with famous food product brands.
Similarly, dispensing machines are unable to refuse or reject powders or concentrates for which the deadline or expiration date for vending has expired. This is particularly dangerous when low acid food products, such as dairy products, are used. There could also be a potential risk of causing serious food poisoning. It would be desirable to ensure that the food product dispensed from the machine is always of sufficient quality to guarantee safety, and that, if it does not, to ensure the product cannot be vended to the consumer. If the food product in the machine is not desirable or is no longer desirable, there is a need for easy detection and tracking of the food product. This would allow for sufficient and immediate steps to be taken to replace the food product and ensure service to the consumer without significant disruption.
Therefore, it would also be advantageous to not only have the machine be able to detect such undesirable food products, but to then send a notification to either the consumer and/or the food service operator. Of course, the notification to the consumer might be simplified to merely indicate that the chosen food product is not available.
Another shortcoming of existing food product dispensing systems is the limited ability to collect and retrieve historical information or usage data. For example, usage information might be gathered to gain a better understanding of consumer habits, or conversely, for providing information to the customer such as nutritional facts, promotional information, etc. Therefore, it would be desirable for a food product dispensing system to retrieve information or usage data and/or to provide information to the customer using the food product dispensing system as an information retrieval and/or disseminating system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,041 to Wright (“041 patent”) relates to a food vending system which is integrated with a specially-shaped oven for providing hot food service. The device is capable of being automatically instructed to vend food using different temperatures, cooking cycles or time periods by using a standardized package that matches the specially-shaped oven cavity and a bar code on the package. The bar code is read by a bar code reader when a selected package is taken from the dispenser outlet and inserted in the specially-shaped oven. The device includes a bar code reader to read codes printed on the food package, and allows that a magnetic or optical character reader may be alternatively used. Further, in order to ensure a proper reading of the code, the food packaging is standardized and the microwave oven has a specialized shape which matches the food product packaging. The package is held in a predetermined position by the specialized shape of the oven cavity, and the bar code reader is located in a predetermined position in the oven cavity. Thus, the code printed on the food package is automatically read by the bar code reader when the package is inserted in the oven. The device is adapted to accommodate three-dimensional products such as pizza packs of predetermined shape that properly match the reading zone. In particular, to read information, the device of the prior art needs to ensure the product properly matches the shape of the reading zone so that the bar code reader can properly read the bar, magnetic or optical code imprinted on the exterior of the product package.
Raw beverage-making materials are often packed in bulk in flow wrap packs that are not often left in the device, but only used for refilling the raw beverage-making material in hoppers arranged in the device. The device of the '041 patent would not be adaptable to receive information, decode and instruct from a variety of different raw beverage-making materials in such hoppers, such as coffee, cocoa, milk or soup powders, concentrates or RTD, which do not necessarily have a well defined three-dimensional package.
Also, it would be desirable to propose a method that allows the communication of vending instructions and/or other data to a food product dispensing device from a package that does not necessarily need to match the shape of a preformed reading zone of the dispensing device, and does not require either physical contact or a line-of-sight between the reading device and the package.
Current inventory control and tracking systems for food products require operator input at several points in the packaging, shipping, and food product dispensing process. For example, the factory would gather the raw food product and place it into containers, such as flow packs (for some powdered beverages). At this stage, an operator might record, possibly in a computer database, a batch or identification number.
Later, another operator would note where the batch of product was shipped for distribution in a log of information. It is possible that the food service operator might make a further notation on another log when the product is finally loaded into the dispensing machine.
Thus, it would be desirable to have a system which allows for the tracking of a product from the factory to the final dispensing to a consumer without the need for an operator to manually input the product information. Also, a desirable characteristic of such a system would be the ability to track a large amount of information, not merely a product and/or batch identification number, but also information such as expiration date, preparation instructions, and more.
It would also be desirable to have a system that provides for tracking of certain variables and/or other data from a product in order to guarantee safety, quality and to retrieve other useful information.